What's been happening in the world of cataloguing and educational metadata? 2013 saw the introduction of a new cataloguing standard known as Resource Description and Access (RDA) to replace AACR2. This webinar provides an overview of cataloguing changes for school library staff.
Why a new cataloguing standard?
The concepts underpinning RDA
The implication for resource discovery in schools
Impacts on Library Management Systems
The presentation is relevant for all school staff, whether they are trained as cataloguers or not, and will assist library staff understand the catalogue records they receive from SCIS.
2. Outline
1.
Why a new cataloguing standard?
2. The implication of changes for schools
3. RDA in school systems
4. The concepts underpinning RDA
5. Questions
7. History of RDA
Late 1990s – future of AACR2?
2004 – AACR3 draft
2005 – Decision to develop RDA
2010 – RDA published
2010/11 – RDA testing
2013 – RDA implementation
8. What’s wrong with AACR2?
new and shiny in 1978
intended for card catalogues
intended to be read by humans
organised by format of resources
not web-friendly
9. What will RDA change?
Cataloguing element
Description (AACR2)
ISBD
Changed
2013
Notes
RDA
SCIS 1 July 2013
Stage 2 2014
Punctuation
Some changes, not all RDA
Classification (Dewey)
X
Subject authorities
(SCIS)
X
Future work for RDA
Name authorities (SCIS)
X
SCIS standards not changing
New RDA fields
Bibframe in conceptual stage
?
Check with/test your system
MARC21
Library system/OPAC
10. ISBN
9780734412249
Tom the outback mailman / written by Kristin Weidenbach ; illustrated
by Timothy Ide
Example record
Title
Main author Weidenbach , Kristin
Contributor
s
Ide, Timothy
Publisher
Sydney : Hachette Australia, 2013
Description
32 p. : col. ill.
Subjects
Postal services – Australia - Biography. scisshl
Outback life - Biography. scisshl
Australian stories. scisshl
Birdsville Track (S. Aust. and Qld.) scisshl
Rural areas. scot
Biographies. scot
Call nos.
383 KRU a15
383.492 KRU 23
Image used by permission
13. Institutional policy on core elements
Updated for RDA
May-June 2013
Further transition
July 2014
esa.edu.au/scis/help.html
14. Grappling with the GMD
The castle [videorecording]
Tech tools [kit]
Romeo and Juliet
[electronic resource]
activity card
art original
art reproduction
braille
chart
diorama
electronic resource
filmstrip
flash card
game
globe
kit
manuscript
map
microform
microscope slide
model
motion picture
music
picture
realia
slide
sound recording
technical drawing
toy
transparency
videorecording
15. RDA provides better coverage of resource types
From Renate Beilharz SCIS Asks 2012
16. Content, Media, Carrier types
Material
Content type
Media type
Carrier type
book with text
and pictures
text; still image
unmediated
volume
digital
photograph
still image
computer
computer disc?
online resource?
sheet music
notated music
unmediated
volume
globe
cartographic threedimensional form
unmediated
object
audio book
spoken word
audio
audio disc?
online resource?
RDA toolkit
text
computer
online resource
21. Access
points /
Uniform
titles
SCIS has made
global change
Delivered in
SCIS Authority
Files release
1, 2014
Parts of the Bible
Redgrave, George 2013 ‘Bible Bookmark‘
Licensed CC-by-nd
Qur’an (from Koran)
24. Abbreviations and field lengths
SCIS follows RDA guideline that bibliographic
information is to be recorded
without abbreviations unless
they appear on the item
250 $a Second edition
260 $a Washington, District of Columbia
300 $a 44 pages : $b colour illustrations
Library systems may need to allow for an increased
number of characters in some fields
25. What will RDA look like?
in cataloguing module
in MARC view
in SCIS Catalogue
in school library systems
in the ideal world
26. SCIS RDA test records
Tests
SCIS no
Title
1607780
The call of the wild /
1588970
Desire /
sound recording
on CD
1588961
Eraserhead /
video recording
on DVD
1585707
Saint Paul's letters to the Corinthians in the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate
/
1581096
100 healthy desserts : delicious recipes for
healthy living /
scis.edublogs.org/tag/rda/
online audiobook
with multiple 007
book
e-book
32. RDA toolkit
rdatoolkit.org
Screen image from the RDA Toolkit used by permission of the Co-Publishers for
RDA (American Library Association, Canadian Library Association and CILIP:
Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals)
34. SCIS implementation
SCIS started cataloguing with RDA on 1 July 2013
but will retain GMD while systems change
There is no plan for retrospective change of existing records
(except parts of Bible and Qur’an)
Library systems will manage both AACR2 and RDA records
35. Getting data out of the library
•
RDA emphasises the importance of
relationships
•
RDA adds precision to access points
•
RDA provides greater internationalisation
•
RDA builds a display of results that conveys
meaningful information to the user
36. Acknowledgements
Leonie Bourke, SCIS RDA consultant
Renate Beilharz and Judy O’Connell presentation slides
used at the SCIS asks consultation in December 2012
National Library of Australia training materials
RDA logos used by permission of the Co-Publishers for
RDA (American Library Association, Canadian Library
Association, and CILIP: Chartered Institute of Library and
Information Professionals)
Screen images from the RDA Toolkit www.rdatoolkit.org
used by permission of the Co-Publishers for RDA
37. Questions, discussion and resources
Training
•
•
SCIS professional learning programme
www.esa.edu.au/scis/professional_learning.html
RDA training page National Library of Australia
www.nla.gov.au/acoc/training-courses-and-seminars-in-australia
Further resources
•
•
•
SCIS blog posts tagged RDA
scis.edublogs.org/tag/rda
Australian RDA information and training materials
www.nla.gov.au/acoc/resource-description-and-access-rda-inaustralia
Labore, L 2012, RDA for the non-cataloger
www.library.illinois.edu/cam/rda/files/RDA_for_the_NonCataloger.pdf
Notes de l'éditeur
What's been happening in the world of cataloguing and educational metadata? 2013 saw the introduction of a new cataloguing standard known as Resource Description and Access (RDA) to replace AACR2. This webinar provides an overview of cataloguing changes for school library staff.
Introduce session scope: not how to catalogue in RDA – that is a 2-3 day course, but an overview of:What is RDA?What problems does RDA solve?What are the basic differences between AACR2 and RDA?What is SCIS doing about RDA?And the question most of you are here for: What do I need to do about RDA?The presentation is relevant for all school staff, whether they are trained as cataloguers or not, and will assist library staff understand the catalogue records they receive from SCIS.
Why standards?
People sometimes complain about standards as being too much work, over the top, don’t need to know about.But while for schools SCIS looks after cataloguing standards so library staff don’t need to worry too much about them, that doesn’t mean they are not important.Consistent displayComprehensive searches: author, series, title, uniform title, call numberChanging library systemFederated search across systemstranslation
Metadata standards aren’t as easy to visualise as the track standards drawing for the railway lines in the diagram on the previous slide.
Resource Description and Access (RDA)2 big things to note:RDA is a Content standard:Format neutral: RDA is not organised according to format; it gives greater emphasis to intellectual content than physical format.
AACR2AACR2 was introduced in 1978. At this time, card catalogues were still dominant as ‘Automated’ catalogues were still in development. Australia’s ABN network (the pre-cursor to the National Bibliographic Database available through Libraries Australia) was still two years away. Library collections were mainly print based. By the mid-1990s it was clear that there were significant issues with AACR2 and there were increasing calls for fundamental revisions to the standard. AACR3 to RDAIn 2004 the work began on a new edition of AACR2 – initially called AACR3. The revision gave greater emphasis to content rather than format. However it became clear that keeping the AACR structure could not fully address challenges posed by digital materials.In 2005 AACR3 was abandoned in favour of a completely new structure - based on a new theoretical model called FRBR.To reflect this change in approach it was given a new name – Resource Description and Access.RDARDA has been developed by the Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA, which consists of representatives from US, UK, Australia and Canada. This is the same body that was responsible for developing and maintaining AACR2. RDA was published in June 2010, and then underwent extensive testing in the US. Many libraries, including the National Library of Australia, the Library of Congress and the national libraries of Britain and Canada implemented RDA in March 2013. The ACOC site has a list of Australian libraries that have completed their RDA implementation.
The Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules were first published in 1967. The very poor quality photo here is of a well-used/(loved?) copy of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Second edition known as AACR2 - originally brought out in 1978.As we have discussed, plenty has changed since then, and the new standards are trying to address some of the identified issues for areas that AACR2 is not addressing successfully any longer in the 21st century.Just being old is not the issue, there are 4 significant issues with AACR2 that are being addressed by RDA.RDA is made for the automated library universe – no longer constrained by the size of a catalogue card.RDA is made for machine-readable catalogue data – no longer do we humans spend time copying catalogue records. We do things once and let the machines do the laborious work of populating our catalogue while we get on with the things humans do best: communicating with the humans we serve in our libraries.RDA starts with the CONTENT of a resource NOT with the Format or the CONTAINER. AACR2 started with a set of General Rules for Description, then launched into sections on cataloguing Books and then other formats, eg Maps, Music etc. Fitting in new formats as they came along became increasingly difficult.RDA is made for the web – and it is published on the web.
There are many elements that come together to realise the full cataloguing workflow.RDA changes only some elements. Nothing is changing in Dewey or subject classification, and neither is SCIS implementing all the possible changes associated with full RDA implementation at this stage. The MARC21 encoding system that allows systems to transmit electronic catalogue records is changing only to the extent required to implement RDA. But bigger changes are being discussed, ieBibframeThe Library of Congress has launched a review of the bibliographic framework to better accommodate future needs. A major focus of the initiative will be to determine a transition path for the MARC 21 exchange format in order to reap the benefits of newer technology while preserving a robust data exchange that has supported resource sharing and cataloguing cost savings in recent decades.
Another way of showing this. Only the top part of the catalogue record as it displays in the SCIS Catalogue will change, that is the descriptive part of the record, not the subject classification or Dewey classification.This record is at: http://opac.scis.curriculum.edu.au/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=1557095
This is what a catalogue record looks like in the cataloguer’s view – working in MARC view. Most school library management systems do not require users to be familiar or work in MARC, although your data must remain compatible with MARC. However RDA’s element structure is designed so that data can be encoded in other formats.The red parts show the major differences that RDA will mean for cataloguers in general.Not all of these RDA elements will be used by SCIS. For example SCIS does not add dates to author access points, nor does it record more than one place of publication. SCIS will not record the copyright date of a resource.The slide shows a relationship designator for Shakespeare as the author of the work. SCIS is not planning to use relationship designators at this stage.There will be changes to how the place of publication and publisher are recorded. Note also the new fields for content type, media type and carrier type, which will replace the GMD (General Material Designation). More about these later.
RDA has core and non-core elements. The core elements are those elements that RDA considers to be “core”, in order to fulfil the most basic of the user tasks defined in FRBR. RDA states that “as a minimum” a resource description should contain all the Core elements that are applicable to that resource or entity and readily ascertainable. Other, non-core elements can be added if they are required in particular situations to assist in performing the basic user tasks.
Institutional policy decisions on Core elementsSome institutions may identify additional elements, beyond the RDA Core elements that they consider mandatory for their cataloguers to include. The Library of Congress has already done this and they are included in the LC-PCC PS.Records contributed to Libraries Australia will be required to meet the minimum record standard (required data elements) available on the Libraries Australia website.The core elements for SCIS records will have been defined in the SCIS Standards for Cataloguing and Data Entry.The following slides discuss the major changes that SCIS will or will not be making.
The biggest issue we see for school libraries in the short term is that RDA does not use the General Material Designation [GMD] – currently included as part of the Title (245 MARC field)This is the current list of General Material Designation terms from the SCIS standards.As a discussion, what GMD should you use for:A map on CD-ROM? A movie?Printed text?The type of material being catalogued was a primary consideration in 1978 but many of these material types are no longer standard in school collections, and in some cases these terms are too general to accurately describe the range of resources being catalogued today. While there is some benefit in seeing early on in the record that this is a [videorecording] or a [sound recording] version of a particular title, there is usually a need to go deeper into a record to determine whether that videorecording is in a format that is convenient to the user. Is it a DVD or MPEG file? Is that [electronic resource] a CD-ROM or an app (and for which brand of device)?
Carrier for digital photograph could be computer card, computer disc or online resourceCarrier for audio book could be audio cassette, audio disc or online resource.The carrier terminology still does not deal well with resources such as downloadable audiobooks.
RDA seeks to address these issues by replacing GMD with three elements, each with a detailed list of terms. The controlled lists for these elements are available from the MARC value lists (via the MARC description of each of the fields), as well as within the RDA toolkit (which is a subscription product).
There is a value list for these new fields at: http://www.loc.gov/standards/valuelist/index.htmlThey are repeatable fields, unlike GMD.Many library systems will not display these new fields, but they may use them to filter searches or display icon types in results lists.
Some library systems report that they may use other information besides GMD to determine the icon displayed in catalogue records but for other systems that may not be able to display the new replacement fields.
This shows how one library system looked when experimenting with new SCIS test RDA records – attempting to ‘map’ the new RDA Media type to the old GMD.For most libraries it seems unlikely that users will want to view this information – particularly for works with the media type of unmediated.There is some more work to be done in this area before July 2014.
Two areas beyond description that will affect schools is the change to the access points for parts of the Bible, and the spelling of Qur’an.Access point in RDA,is the broader term to cover all terms that are used to represent entities in what we have often referred to up until now as “headings”. In the context of RDA access points represent names, terms, codes, etc. used to represent works and expressions. These roughly equate to what we have been used to calling “Uniform titles” in AACR2, and we construct the access point using the preferred title of the work, and where applicable, preceding that with the authorised access point for the person, family or corporate body responsible for the work.
Another access point example where abbreviations changes things is with Bible Headings, where O.T and N.T. are now spelt out. However, another changemeans that the Testament will only be included in the heading when the resource is the WHOLE of the stipulated Testament. Individual books will be recorded directly under “Bible” rather than as a subset of one of the Testaments.
We have discussed this field with library system providers and asked them to indicate their readiness for SCIS switching from 260 to 264.The reason RDA has introduced this change is to partly to accommodate the need to put multiple dates in the bibliographic record, to distinguish between publication date, copyright date etc. This is important to many libraries, particularly collecting organisations but is less relevant to most school libraries. SCIS could decide not to change, but our goal is to adhere to standards wherever possible, and as we don’t know what else this might affect in future technologies and data transfers we would like to change when library systems are ready.
Some screenshots follow. Mostly you will notice how little change you notice – and your users may well notice nothing in this first stage.Under the hood changes first to set up bigger things as the developers and library systems start doing more adventurous things – and changing the library catalogue from its uncanny resemblance to a catalogue card layout.
These test records are available for downloading – library system vendors and trainers at this stage, but eventually useful for library staff testing.Link to blog and show that test records are now available in two formats. The version in your handouts is the pure RDA record. The blog links are to SCIS OPAC view.
This is what the SCIS cataloguer sees in MARC view when creating RDA records
How this translates to the MARC View in SCIS OPAC
Which of these versions of Desire the album by Bob Dylan is the RDA record?#1 has no GMD of [sound recording]. How do you tell it is a sound recording?
The issue here is that even though we saw in the MARC View that this has been catalogued as an RDA test record you cannot see these additional fields in the SCIS OPAC because it has not yet been configured to display these fields.So, it is not just the catalogue record DATA that must be changed, but everywhere that data needs to be displayed.
Hopefully it won’t look like this. Can you identify the issues with this RDA test record in a test version of Oliver?Book icon for a music sound recording – obviously something is not mapped properly here. Don’t know at first glance whether this is an issue with the MARC record from SCIS, or with Oliver not being ready to receive this type of data from SCIS, or something wrong in the local configuration of this particular Oliver instance.Needs more research.Also note – no publication/production detail – ie 264 not coming acrossContent type, carrier type and media type not displaying – may be a conscious decision. Certainly many libraries not making them searchable.Needs more research. This is the type of testing library systems will be doing, and which you will want to do in your own catalogues with some test records.Things to check when importing RDA test records:What collection icon is returned for this music sound recording record now there is no GMD? If it is not as you expect then check:a. the mapping of the MARC record from SCISb. whether your library system is ready to receive this type of data from SCISc. the local configuration of this particular library system’s media typesIs publication/production detail displaying – ie is the new 264 field coming into your systemAre the new fields for Content type, carrier type and media type displaying (you may decide not to display them). Certainly many libraries are not making them searchable.Are you losing any data because fields are not long enough to display the full content?
RDA is a resource for the online world – the rules are produced as an online toolkitPurchase through http://www.rdatoolkit.org/ http://access.rdatoolkit.orgIf your school currently has and uses a copy of AACR2 regularly then you will probably want to organise a subscription. Otherwise you can use SCIS as your cataloguing authority, and ask us questions as they arise via the scisinfo@esa.edu.au email contact, or the website form at the bottom of every page of the SCIS website.
The full-text print version of RDA offers an offline access point to help solo and part-time cataloguers evaluate and use RDA. It can also support training and classroom use. An index is included. The online RDA Toolkit is the preferred option for using the Toolkit as it will always be the most up to date, and also offers access to companion tools such as LC and JSC Policy Decisions, the full text of AACR2, Mapping to MARC and user workflows.